|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rasuwa Clinic KFK-Nepal’s MCH Clinic has been providing the medical services to approximately 7,000 people of remote Gatlang, Goljung, and Chilime villages of Rasuwa district since late 2000. Before this clinic was established, there was no medical service available in these communities. Because of the extreme level of poverty in these communities and remoteness from a nearby hospital, which is about a days walking distance, most people could not manage to get medical care when they were sick. Seeking care from local healers who did not have access to modern medical techniques or treatments and was the only option. Government outreach immunization services were so infrequent and irregular that many children were left without immunization against the major childhood illnesses. Prior to KFK’s Clinic it was difficult to find a mother who had not lost a child and impossible to find a household without a sick person. It is estimated that the Child and Maternal Mortality rates of these communities have been almost two-to-three times higher than the national average. Nepal's average infant mortality rate, 78 deaths per 1000 live births, and average maternal mortality rate, 539 deaths per 100,000 live deliveries, are among the highest in the world.
The Rasuwa Clinic Why We Need Your Help Beginning in late 1998, KFK-Nepal developed a plan to provide health care services to the above needy communities through the establishment of a regular clinic targeting mother and children. In the process of materializing its plan, KFK was able to obtain a community building for KFK free of cost to set up a clinic. With support from Americans, like Author Linda Wyile (Linda Wylie and Anatoli Boukreev “Above the Clouds”) the initial capital of US$5000 to start the clininc was raised. KFK also obtained official approval from the government Health Ministry to run a clinic. The Ministry also provides some minimal training and supplies to the clinic. KFK carried out the basic repair and renovation of the building which houses the clinic and its staff, as well as the community library. KFK also procured basic equipment/supplies, and recruited two staff members; one is a senior registered nurse and the other is a local paramedic trained by KFK. In late 2000, KFK launched its clinical services and has been serving over 100 patients each month, an astonishing number for such remote and rural area. As of July 2002, KFK's clinic has provided medical treatment for over 2385 patients. Sixty-three per cent of those treated were suffering from gastro-intestinal, respiratory infections, tuberculosis, and skin infections. In mid-2001, KFK's supporters in Los Angeles and Santa Fe provided the additional funds needed to continue the clinic's operation. These funds will run out by December 2003 and the clinic will have to close unless help can be found. KFK operates on an extremely low budget. For about the cost of lunch in an American restaurant, $15.00/day, we staff the clinic and provide medical supplies and equipment as well as overhead costs, such as utilities. But even this small sum of money is difficult to obtain in a country as poor as Nepal. We desperately need your help to save lives and improve the health and well being of these poor, indigenous Buddhist-Tamang communities on the Nepal-Tibet border.
|
